Will New Artificial Intelligence Tools Like ChatGPT Play a Role in Cold-Formed Steel Framing?

Featured image: “A doghouse framed with cold-formed steel” using the DALL-E 2 AI image generation tool.

The arrival of new technologies seems to scare everyone at first, and that’s certainly true with new AI, or artificial intelligence, tools such as DALL-E 2 and ChatGPT. 

• DALL-E 2 is an AI image generation tool provided by OpenAI
• ChatGPT is an generative AI tool also provided by OpenAI

Will such AI tools play a role in cold-formed steel (CFS) framing? BuildSteel’s editors recently tried them out and, we must say, found them to be dazzling, though a bit quirky in what they produced. But, boy, what fun!

DALL-E 2: AI Image Generation

‘A Crane Lifting a CFS Panel’

Using DALL-E 2, we typed in the prompt: “An exterior steel stud wall panel being lifted into place by a crane on a construction job site.” This image came up, not on the first try, but only after clicking on the “generate variations” button.

Grade: C-

“An exterior steel stud wall panel being lifted into place by a crane on a construction job site” using DALL-E 2.

‘An Impressionist Painting of Workers Stretching’

Pierre-Auguste Renoir might be proud of this DALL-E 2 prompt: “An Impressionist painting of construction workers stretching.”

Grade: B+

“An Impressionist painting of construction workers stretching” using DALL-E 2.

‘Hanging Drywall from a Boom Lift’

One DALL-E 2 prompt generated a drywall hanger with an oddly shaped head hanging narrow strips of drywall. The prompt was “A construction worker using a screw gun to hang drywall while standing on a boom lift.” 

Grade: C-

“A construction working using a screw gun to hang drywall while standing on a boom lift” using DALL-E 2.

How Generate AI Works

Generative AI works by “spidering images from across the internet, absorbing the visual culture contained within them by scanning their captions,” says Wired. Sometimes you get a pleasing result, and other times you get plain weirdness. Much depends on the prompts used.

Could generative AI propose ways to better train crews? Maybe, one day. 

• Generative AI tools such as DALL-E 2 have built-in image recognition and classification capabilities 
• Such AI tools can, in theory, recognize unsafe worker behavior on job sites and generate images of the hazardous behaviors, helping managers to educate their crews

ChatGPT: Generative AI

A December 2022 McKinsey report shows that AI adoption has more than doubled in five years and that investment in AI has seen similar growth. 

AI generation technology, such as the ChatGPT tool from OPenAI, is loaded with possibilities.    

“Generative AI models can produce code, video, audio or business simulations,” says McKinsey in the article, “What Is Generative AI?” It can help senior executives predict market environments “with tremendous precision” and even prescribe courses of action.      

• Could chatbots like ChatGPT write guide specifications for metal framing? 
• Could they generate installation instructions?

ChatGPT: ‘Explain The Strength of Cold-Formed Steel Stud Framing’

The ChatGPT prompt:

“Explain how the strength of cold-formed steel stud framing is achieved by using bridging, bracing and blocking to a 12-year-old.” 

The ChatGPT result:      

When building walls using cold-formed steel studs, it’s important to make sure the walls are strong and sturdy. This is done by using three things: bridging, bracing and blocking.      

Bridging helps to keep the studs from bending or twisting by connecting the studs together. It works like a bridge, spreading the weight of the wall evenly across all the studs.      

Bracing provides extra support for the walls. Think of it like a prop that helps keep the wall straight and strong. 

Bracing is usually attached to the top and bottom of the wall.      

Blocking is used to connect two walls together or to keep a wall from moving. It works like a big piece of LEGO®, connecting one wall to another so they are both strong and stable.      

Together, bridging, bracing and blocking make sure the walls built with cold-formed steel studs are strong and able to hold up whatever is put on them.      

Grade: B

AI: The Next Frontier in Construction?

Yes, generative AI tools are not perfect. But they already have a variety of uses, according to McKinsey:

• Organizations in need of marketing copy
• Technical materials, such as higher-resolution versions of medical images

If chatbots could serve the medical industry, where precision is crucial, why not also CFS framing construction? AI applications could recommend:

• A specific wall design to engineers and architects
• Structural solutions based on criteria like the construction timeline or the likelihood of field mistakes, such as whether to use welded or bolted steel stud connections

Maybe, some day.

“It can’t be emphasized enough that this is a new field. The landscape of risks and opportunities is likely to change rapidly in coming weeks, months, and years,” McKinsey says. “New use cases are being tested monthly, and new models are likely to be developed in the coming years.”

Additional Resources

• Professor Develops Prototype Wall Framing Machine to Revolutionize Construction
• CEMCO and Simpson Strong-Tie Support NHERI 10-Story, Mass-Timber Building Shake Test
• Proposed Partnership Would Use OFFSITEK Steel Framing to Meet Local Housing Demand